L,  1905 


MANTEGMA  PRICE 


MD 

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UC-NRLF 


B  ^  sa^  aos 


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Jgsueftlft^^ 


MANTEGNA 


PART  64  VOLUME  6 


JBatc?iantKJutttKJitnpan]|. 

42<I()auntii^tRi* 


MA  STERS    IN    ART 


Among  the  artists  to  be  considered  during  the  current,  1905, 
Volume  may  be  mentioned  Fra  Filippo  Lippi,  Sir  Henry  Rae- 
burn,  Jan  Steen,  Claude  Lorrain,  Benozzo  Gozzoli,  and  Tiepolo. 
The  numbers  of"  '  Masters  in  Art '  which  have  already  appeared 
in  1905  are : 

Part6i,  JANUARY WATTS 

Part  62,  FEBRUARY  .  .  .  PALM  A  VECCHIO 
PART63,  MARCH  .  .  MADAME  VIGEELEBRUN 
Part  64,  APRIL MANTEGNA 

PART     65,     THE     ISSUE     FOR 

WILL  TREAT  OF 

Cjjarbin 


NUMBERS    ISSUED   IN   PREVIOUS  VOLUMES 
OF  'MASTERS  IN  ART' 


Part 
Part 
Part 
Part 
Part 
Part 
Part 
Part 
Part 
Part 
Part 
Part  : 


VOL.   1. 

I.— VAN   DYCK 
Z.— TITIAN 


—VELASQUEZ 

—HOLBEIN 

—BOTTICELLI 

—REMBRANDT 

—REYNOLDS 

—MILLET 

— GIO.  BELLINI 

— MURILLO 

—HALS 

—RAPHAEL 


*Sculptu 

VOL.  3. 


Part 
Part 
Part 
Part 
Part 
Part 
Part 
Part 
Part 
Pakt 
Part 
Part 


—PHIDIAS 

-PERUGINO 

—HOLBEIN? 

—TINTORETTO 

—  P.  deHOOCH 

—NATTIER 

—PAUL  POTTER 

—GIOTTO 

—PRAXITELES 

—HOGARTH 

—TURNER 

— LUINI 

§  Drawing 


VOL.  2. 

Part  i}.— RUBENS 
Part  14.— DA   VINCI 
Part  15.— DURER 
Part  16.— MICHELANGELO* 
Part  17.— MlCHELANGELOf 
Part  18.— COROT 
Part  19.— BURNE-JONES 
Part  20.— TER  BORCH 
Part  21.— DELLA   ROBBIA 
Part  22.— DEL  SARIO 
Part  23.— GAINSBOROUGH 
Part  24.— CORREGGIO 
^Painting 

VOL.  4. 

Part  jy.- ROMNEY 
Part  38.— FRA   ANGELICO 
Part  39.— WATTEAU 
Part  40.  -RAPHAEL* 
Part  41.— DONATELLO 
Part  42.— GERARD  DOU 
Part  43.— CARPACCIO 
Part  44.— ROSA  BONHEUR 
Part  4;.— GUIDO  RENI 
Part  46.— P.  dbCHAVANNES 
Part  47.— GIORGIONE 
Part  48.— ROSSETTl 
r  *  Frescos 


VOL.  5. 


FRA  BARTOLOMMEO 

GREUZE 

.     DURER'S  ENGRAVINGS 

LOTTO 

.     LANDSEER 

VERMEER   OF   DELFT 

.    PINTORICCHIO 

THE   BROTHERS  VAN   EYCK 

MEISSONIER 

BARYE 


Part  49,  JANUARY 
Part  50,  FEBRUARY 
Part  51,  MARCH      . 
Part  52,  APRIL 
Part  53,  MAY 
Part  54,  JUNE 
Part  55,  JULY 
Part  56,  AUGUST  . 
Part  57,  SEPTEMBER 
Part  58,  OCTOBER 

Part  59,  NOVEMBER VERONESE 

Part  60,  DECEMBER COPLEY 


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M  A  XT  EG  X  A 


MASTEHS   IN   AHT      PLATE  11 

rHOTOGRAPM   BY    ANDERSON 

[l3l] 


MANTP'.GNA 
MKKTIxr.  OP  LOnOVlCO  GOKZAGA  ANll  CAKDINAL  F«ANCESCO 
GAMEKA  DEGLI  SJ'OSI,  CASTELLO,  MANTUA 


MASTEKS  IN  AKT     PliATK  III 

PHOTOGRAPH  BY  BR»UN,   CLEMENT    i.  CIE 


MAXTKI^N'A 
TIIK    IIOI.V   KAMIT.Y 
CQLLKlvnOX  OF  J)H.  l-LDWlc;  MOXD, 


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MASTEHS  IN   A  Kl' 

PHOTOGRAPH   BY    PRAUN,    C 


I'l.ATK    VI 


[lao] 


.MAXTKCrXA 

THE  MAUOXNA  OF  VICTOKX 

LOUVKE.  PAKiS 


MASTEHS    IN    A  HI' 

PHOTOGRAPH   HY    Al 

[141] 


PI,A  TK  vir 

DERSON 


MAXTKd.VA 
ST.  JAMES  hf:fohk  IIKKOI)  AGRIPPA 

CHUKCH  OF  TltK  KHKMITANI,  PADUA 


MASTKHS    IX    AIM'      PI.ATK   Vltl 

PHOTOGRAPH   »v   ANDERSON 


M  A.N  rK(;.N'A 

M  ADO.N  XA    A.\  n  CIlII.ll  Wnil  ("IIKRI'HS 

i;hkha  (;ai-i,khv.  mii.ax 


MASTEKS    IN   AKT      P1.ATK   IX 

PHOTOQBAPH   BY  HANFSTAENGL 

[14.-,] 


MAXTKGXA 

POKTKAIT  OK  CAKIMNAI.  SCAKAMPI 

HKHLI-\  C.Al.l.KKY 


<  i 


HHOXZE  HUST  OF  .M  AN'IW;  .\  A 
MA.VTFXIXAS  CIIAPIOL,  lUIUJiC.II   Ol'   SANl"  A.\J)liKA,  .MAXTIA 

Fifty  years  after  Mantcgna's  death,  his  grandson,  Andrea,  placed  in  the  chapel  of 
the  Church  of  Sant'  Andrea,  Mantua,  where  the  painter  is  buried,  the  now  cele- 
brated bronze  bust  of  Mantegna  here  reproduced.  Formerly  attributed  to  the 
medalist,  Sperandio,  this  tine  work  is  now  ascribed  by  some  to  Bartolommeo  di 
Virgilio  Meglioli ;  by  others  to  Gian  Marco  Cavalli.  Whoever  the  sculptor,  the 
massive  head  crowned  with  laurel,  and  with  eyes  in  which  we  are  told  diamonds 
once  blazed,  is  superbly  modeled,  and  in  its  strongly  marked  features  are  revealed  the 
rugged  strength,  the  proud  and  uncompromising  spirit,  the  mighty  energy,  of  the 
great  artist. 

[  1411  ] 


MASTERS    IN     ART 


^ntirea  iWanti^gna 


BORN    1431  :    DIED   loOG 
P ADU AN    SCHOOL 


ANDREA  MANTEGNA  (pronounced  Man-tane'yah)  was  born  at  Vi- 
-/a.  cenza,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Padua,  in  the  year  1431.  Nothing  is 
known  of  his  parentage  except  that  his  father's  name  was  Biagio.  The  story 
told  by  Vasari,  that,  like  Giotto,  Mantegna  was  "occupied  during  his  child- 
hood in  the  tending  of  flocks,"  is  without  foundation,  and  all  that  is  actually 
known  of  his  early  years  is  that  he  went  to  Padua  when  very  young,  was  there 
adopted  by  the  painter  Squarcione,  and  at  the  age  of  ten  was  admitted  to  the 
gild  of  painters  in  Padua,  being  registered  in  the  books  of  the  fraternity  as 
"Andrea,  the  son  of  Messer  Francesco  Squarcione,  painter." 

Although  Squarcione's  title  to  fame  rests  to-day  largely  upon  the  fact  that 
he  was  Mantegna's  earliest  master,  he  occupies  a  not  unimportant  position  in 
the  history  of  the  development  of  art  in  northern  Italy.  Originally  a  tailor  and 
embroiderer  by  profession,  he  won  a  reputation  as  a  connoisseur  of  antique 
art,  his  taste  for  which  he  indulged  during  travels  in  Italy,  and  some  say  in 
Greece,  where  he  collected  specimens  of  sculpture,  bas-reliefs,  architectural 
remains,  and  drawings  made  from  inscriptions  and  decorative  work.  Upon 
his  return  to  Padua  he  established  an  art  school,  where  no  less  than  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty-seven  students  from  all  parts  of  Italy  were  assembled. 

In  this  school  the  young  Mantegna  received  his  first  instruction,  and  thus 
from  his  earliest  years  a  love  for  antique  art  was  formed,  a  love  which  re- 
mained throughout  his  life  the  dominant  feature  in  his  art,  though  other  in- 
fluences contributed  towards  making  him  the  finished  master  he  became. 

Whether  Jacopo  BeUini,  the  Venetian  painter,  was  one  of  the  teachers  em- 
ployed in  Squarcione's  school,  or  whether,  during  the  residence  in  Padua 
which  he  is  known  to  have  made,  he  set  up  a  separate  and  rival  studio,  can- 
not be  determined,  but  in  Mantegna's  work,  as  well  as  in  that  of  other  Squar- 
cionesques,  his  influence  is  clearly  perceptible.  From  the  Florentine  painter 
Paolo  Uccello,  who  was  at  work  in  Padua  in  Mantegna's  boyhood,  the  young 
student  probably  acquired  an  interest  in  the  art  of  perspective  and  foreshort- 
ening in  which  Paolo  excelled;  but  by  a  far  greater  master,  the  famous  sculp- 
tor Donatello,  who  with  a  crowd  of  assistants  went  from  Florence  to  Padua 
and  there  lived  and  worked  for  a  period  of  about  ten  years,  he  was  still  more 


24  MASTERS     IN     ART 

powerfully  influenced.  Donateilo's  classic  ideals  and  t}pes,  his  forceful  in- 
terpretation of  the  spirit  of  the  Renaissance,  to  say  nothing  of  his  marvelous 
technical  skill,  all  made  a  deep  impression  upon  Mantegna's  mind. 

Bred  up  among  such  influences,  and  imbibing  from  his  earliest  youth  the 
intellectual  atmosphere  of  the  old  university  town  of  Padua,  the  home  of 
scholars,  poets,  artists,  and  philosophers,  Mantegna  grew  to  manhood.  At 
seventeen  he  had  painted  his  tirst  recorded  picture,  a  'Madonna  in  Glory,' 
no  longer  in  existence,  for  the  Church  of  Santa  Sofia  in  Padua.  Four  years 
later  he  painted  a  fresco  over  the  portal  of  the  Church  of  Sant'  Antonio,  and 
in  1454  he  executed  for  the  Church  of  Santa  Giustina  a  large  altar-piece  of 
St.  Luke  with  eight  saints  and  a  Pieta,  now  in  the  Brera  Gallery,  Milan. 
At  the  age  of  twenty-three  he  had,  therefore,  been  employed  in  work  for  the 
three  principal  churches  of  Padua,  from  which  it  may  be  inferred  that  even 
at  that  early  stage  of  his  career  he  had  acquired  a  reputation  and  was  highly 
esteemed  by  his  fellow-citizens. 

Before  finishing  the  St.  Luke  altar-piece  Mantegna  was  engaged  upon 
a  work  which  was  to  make  his  name  famous.  With  others  of  Squarcione's 
pupils  he  was  employed  in  decorating  in  fresco  (or,  more  properly  speaking, 
in  tempera  on  the  dry  plaster,  the  method  employed  by  Mantegna  for  all  his 
wall-paintings)  the  Chapel  of  St.  James  and  St.  Christopher  in  the  Church  of 
the  Eremitani  in  Padua,  and  in  the  six  celebrated  wall-paintings  which  re- 
main of  his  work  there  we  have  a  priceless  record  of  his  early  art. 

Before  the  completion  of  these  paintings  Mantegna's  marriage  with  Nico- 
losia,  daughter  of  Jacopo  Bellini,  took  place.  Two  years  later  he  broke  off  all 
connection  with  Squarcione,  from  whom  he  demanded  and  obtained  his  free- 
dom on  the  ground  that  when  he  had  signed  an  agreement  to  work  for  him 
he  was  but  a  minor,  and,  moreover,  that  he  had  been  deceived  by  his  master. 

According  to  Vasari,  the  rupture  between  Squarcione  and  his  pupil  was 
caused  by  the  latter's  marriage  with  the  daughter  of  Squarcione's  "rival," 
Jacopo  Bellini,  which  so  displeased  Mantegna's  master  that,  whereas  he  had 
previously  much  extolled  his  pupil's  works,  he  from  that  time  censured  them 
with  violence,  finding  fault  with  Mantegna's  frescos  in  the  Church  of  the 
Eremitani  because  the  figures  therein  resembled  antique  marbles.  "Andrea," 
adds  Vasari,  "was  deeply  wounded  by  his  disparaging  remarks,  but  they 
were,  nevertheless,  of  great  service  to  him;  for,  knowing  that  there  was  truth 
in  what  Squarcione  said,  he  forthwith  began  to  draw  from  the  life." 

By  most  modern  critics  the  change  which  took  place  at  about  this  period 
in  Mantegna's  manner  of  painting  is  attributed  not  to  any  adverse  criticism 
from  Squarcione,  but  to  the  counsel  of  his  brother-in-law,  Giovanni  Bellini 
(between  whose  early  works  and  some  of  Mantegna's  a  strong  resemblance 
exists),  who  induced  him  to  soften  the  rigor  of  his  style  and  turn  more  to  na- 
ture than  to  the  cold  and  lifeless  models  of  antique  art. 

The  fame  of  the  Eremitani  frescos  quickly  spread,  and  before  long  Man- 
tegna was  regarded  as  the  chief  painter  of  Padua.  His  genius  was  extolled 
by  scholars,  and  poems  were  written  in  his  honor,  while  princes  and  church 
dignitaries  sought  to  obtain  examples  of  his  art.    While  at  work  upon  a  large 

[150] 


MANTEGNA  25 

altar-piece  in  six  parts  for  the  Church  of  San  Zeno  in  Verona,  he  received,  in 
1457,  a  pressing  invitation  from  Lodovico  Gonzaga,  marquis  of  Mantua,  to 
enter  his  service  and  take  up  residence  at  the  Mantuan  court,  then  one  of  the 
most  brilliant  in  Italy.  But  the  painter,  fully  occupied  with  work,  and  loath 
to  give  up  his  home  in  Padua,  a  town  to  which  he  was  so  strongly  attached 
that  as  long  as  he  lived  he  frequently  affixed  to  his  signature  the  words  "Civis 
Patavinus"  (Citizen  of  Padua),  hesitated  to  accede  to  Lodovico's  wish,  and 
it  was  not  until  the  end  of  two  years,  and  after  repeated  appeals  from  the 
marquis,  who  courteously  but  persistently  plied  him  with  letters  filled  with 
liberal  promises,  —  a  salary  of  fifteen  ducats  a  month  should  be  at  his  dis- 
posal, free  lodging,  corn  and  wood  enough  for  six  people,  and  all  traveling 
expenses  paid, — that  Mantegna,  after  many  excuses, —  first,  that  he  must  be 
allowed  to  finish  his  altar-piece,  then  that  he  must  go  to  Verona  to  place  it  in 
the  Church  of  San  Zeno, —  finally  yielded,  and  in  1459  removed  with  his  fam- 
ily to  Mantua.  From  that  time  on  until  his  death  he  remained  the  special 
court  painter  and  the  devoted  subject  of  the  Gonzaga  family,  being  privileged 
to  make  use  with  some  slight  change  of  the  Gonzaga  coat  of  arms,  and  being 
treated  with  the  utmost  regard  by  the  successive  rulers  of  the  house,  who  were 
well  aware  that  his  presence  added  luster  to  their  court  and  city. 

Among  the  earliest  works  executed  after  his  arrival  in  Mantua  were  a  small 
triptych,  or  altar-piece  in  three  parts,  now  in  the  Uffizi  Gallery,  Florence, 
and  a  'Death  of  the  Virgin'  in  Madrid.  His  decorations  of  Goito,  the  fa- 
vorite hunting-castle  of  the  marquis,  have  perished,  as  have  also  his  frescos 
in  various  neighboring  palaces  of  the  Gonzagas. 

In  the  summer  of  1466  Mantegna  went  to  Florence  on  business  of  his  mas- 
ter's, but  no  account  of  his  four  months'  stay  there  has  come  down  to  us.  In 
December  of  that  year  he  was  in  Mantua  again,  executing  a  variety  of  tasks 
for  the  marquis,  from  drawing  designs  for  tapestries  to  painting  the  walls  of  a 
room  in  the  Castello,  known  as  the  'Camera  degli  Sposi.' 

These  famous  frescos  were  finished  in  1474,  and  as  a  reward  the  marquis 
presented  Mantegna  with  an  estate  upon  which  the  painter  began  to  build  for 
himself  a  stately  house,  where,  however,  he  seems  never  to  have  actually  lived, 
but  where  it  was  his  hope  that  he  would  be  free  from  the  annoyances  he 
suffered  from  his  neighbors.  Again  and  again  Mantegna,  who  seems  to  have 
been  of  an  irascible  temper,  quick  to  imagine  slights  and  to  resent  fancied  in- 
juries, appealed  to  his  master,  the  marquis,  to  redress  his  wrongs.  Now  it  was 
to  beg  him  to  punish  a  tailor  who  had  spoiled  a  piece  of  his  cloth;  now  to  bit- 
terly complain  of  a  neighbor  who,  he  declared,  had  robbed  his  garden  of  five 
hundred  fine  quinces;  again,  to  beg  for  justice  regarding  the  boundary-line 
between  his  estate  and  the  next.  To  all  appeals  from  his  testy  painter  Lodo\  - 
ico  turned  a  patient  ear,  adjusting  matters  to  Mantegna's  satisfaction  when- 
ever possible,  though  sometimes  forced  to  decide  against  the  irritable  artist, 
who  on  one  occasion  himself  administered  what  he  felt  to  be  justice,  and 
soundly  thrashed  an  engraver  whom  he  suspected  of  having  purloined  his 
plates.  This  time  a  lawsuit  followed  in  which  Mantegna  fared  badly,  for  we 
find  him  again  appealing  to  the  marquis  for  help. 

[  1  r,  1  ] 


26  MASTERS     IN     ART 

Lodovico,  always  ready  to  treat  Mantegna  with  forbearance,  was  not,  how- 
ever, so  prompt  to  satisfy  his  frequent  and  more  reasonable  complaints  that  his 
salary  was  in  arrears.  In  1478  the  painter  wrote  to  remind  his  patron  that  the 
promises  made  to  induce  him  to  leave  Padua  had  never  been  fulfilled,  but  that 
now,  after  laboring  in  the  Gonzagas'  service  for  nineteen  years,  he  was  still 
poor  and  in  need.  Lodovico  replied  kindly  and  with  apologies,  assuring  Man- 
tegna that  he  should  be  paid,  even  if  his  own  possessions  had  to  be  sold,  but 
that  money  was  scarce  in  the  Mantuan  treasury,  and  even  then  his  own  jewels 
were  in  pawn.  Three  weeks  after  this  Lodovico  died,  after  ruling  for  thirty- 
four  years,  and  to  his  son,  Federico,  were  left  his  dukedom  and  his  debts. 

This  new  marquis  had  all  his  father's  love  of  art  and  luxury,  and  towards 
the  court  painter  he  showed  continued  kindness  and  appreciation  of  his  genius. 
He  kept  him,  indeed,  so  constantly  employed  that  Mantegna  was  forced  to  re- 
fuse many  of  the  commissions  he  received  from  different  parts  of  Italy.  The 
painter  was  at  the  height  of  his  powers  and  success  when,  in  1484,  Federico 
died,  and  was  in  his  turn  succeeded  by  his  son,  Francesco,  then  but  a  boy;  and 
Mantegna,  seemingly  uneasy  as  to  his  position  at  the  Mantuan  court,  wrote 
to  offer  his  services  at  that  of  Florence.  What  answer  he  received  we  do  not 
know,  only  that  he  remained  in  Mantua  and  that  his  new  patron,  the  young 
marquis,  Francesco,  proved  as  appreciative  of  the  painter's  genius  as  his  father 
and  grandfather  had  been  before  him. 

The  first  important  work  undertaken  by  Mantegna  after  the  accession  of 
Francesco  was  the  execution  of  a  series  of  nine  large  paintings  representing 
'The  Triumph  of  Caesar,'  now  at  Hampton  Court,  England,  but  long  used  to 
decorate  a  palace  of  the  Gonzagas.  This  great  work  was  interrupted  by  a 
journey  to  Rome  in  1488,  made  in  compliance  with  a  request  to  Francesco 
Gonzaga  from  Pope  Innocent  viii.  that  he  would  send  his  favorite  painter  to 
Rome  to  decorate  a  chapel  in  the  Vatican.  Such  a  request  could  not  be  re- 
fused, and  accordingly  Mantegna  was  allowed  to  depart,  having  first  had  con- 
ferred upon  him  by  his  master  the  honor  of  knighthood. 

For  two  years  he  remained  in  Rome,  but  unfortunately  the  frescos  with 
which  in  that  time  he  decorated  the  pope's  chapel  have  perished,  the  entire 
chapel  having  been  destroyed  in  1780,  when  Pope  Pius  vi.  enlarged  the  Vat- 
ican. Several  letters  written  by  Mantegna  to  the  marquis,  Francesco  Gon- 
zaga, during  his  residence  in  the  papal  city,  have  been  preserved,  in  which  he 
tells  of  the  honor  and  favor  shown  him  by  the  pope,  who,  he  says,  though  gra- 
cious, was  not  generous,  for  that  he  had  been  obHged  to  work  for  a  year  with 
nothing  in  return  but  his  board  —  a  statement  which  would  seem  to  be  corrob- 
orated by  the  anecdote  told  by  Ridolfi  that  the  painter,  having  been  bidden 
to  portray  the  seven  deadly  sins,  placed  beside  them  an  eighth  figure,  and  that 
when  the  holy  father  asked  him  what  that  signified  Mantegna  replied,  "In- 
gratitude," which  he  held  to  be  the  worst  of  all.  To  which  the  pope,  seeing 
the  meaning  of  the  painter's  words,  replied,  smiling,  "On  this  side  then  paint 
the  seven  virtues,  and  for  an  eighth  figure  add  Patience,  which  is  not  inferior 
to  any  of  the  rest."  After  this,  however,  it  is  said  that  Mantegna's  money  was 
promptly  paid. 

[152] 


MANTEGNA  27 

As  time  went  on  and  the  artist  did  not  return,  Francesco  became  impatient, 
and  in  December,  1489,  when  his  marriage  with  the  beautiful  Isabella  d'Este, 
daughter  of  the  duke  of  Ferrara,  was  about  to  be  celebrated,  he  wrote  ur- 
gently to  both  the  pope  and  the  painter,  stating  that  Mantegna's  services 
were  needed  in  Mantua.  But  when  the  wedding  took  place,  in  the  following 
February,  Mantegna  was  still  in  Rome,  detained  by  sickness,  and  not  until  the 
next  autumn  was  he  able  to  return  to  Mantua.  All  his  attention  was  then  de- 
voted to  the  completion  of  his  'Triumph  of  Caesar,'  about  which  he  had  been 
so  anxious  while  in  Rome  that  in  his  letters  to  the  marquis  he  had  more  than 
once  given  explicit  directions  as  to  the  care  to  be  taken  of  these  precious 
works,  of  which  he  says  himself,  "Truly  I  am  not  ashamed  of  having  made 
them,  and  hope  to  make  more,  if  God  and  your  Excellency  please." 

Henceforth  Mantegna's  life  was  passed  without  interruption  in  Mantua. 
His  talents  were  in  constant  requisition  by  the  marquis  and  by  his  accom- 
plished wife,  Isabella,  who,  during  the  frequent  absence  of  Francesco  on  mil- 
itary service,  governed  the  state  ably  and  wisely.  To  commemorate  a  battle 
in  which  the  marquis,  although  defeated,  had  borne  himself  bravely,  Man- 
tegna painted  his  famous 'Madonna  of  Victory '(plate  vi);  to  adorn  the  private 
study  of  Isabella,  he  painted  the  two  mythological  scenes,  'Parnassus'  (plate 
x)  and  the  'Triumph  of  Wisdom,'  both  now  in  the  Louvre,  Paris.  For  the 
monks  of  Santa  Maria  degli  Organi  he  painted  the  altar-piece  of  the  '  Madonna 
and  Saints,'  now  owned  by  Prince  Trivulzio  in  Milan;  and  when  his  brush 
was  not  actively  employed  his  creative  powers  found  expression  through  his 
pencil  or  his  burin,  for  Mantegna  was  famous  not  only  as  a  painter  but  as  a 
draftsman  and  an  engraver. 

Scarcely  a  dozen  genuine  examples  of  his  drawings  have  survived,  but  these 
show  him  to  have  been  a  master  in  that  branch  of  art,  and  as  an  engraver  he 
stands  in  the  foremost  rank.  Of  the  twenty-three  plates  formerly  ascribed  to 
his  hand  only  seven  are  now  regarded  as  unquestionably  his.  All  these  are 
notable  for  the  beauty  and  originality  of  the  designs,  powerful  imagination 
displayed,  and  great  technical  skill. 

Mantegna's  irascible  disposition,  which  rendered  him  an  almost  impossible 
neighbor,  does  not  seem  to  have  prevented  his  being  held  b)-  the  distinguished 
scholars  of  his  day  to  be  a  delightfully  agreeable  companion,  whose  varied  ac- 
complishments and  cultivated  tastes  excited  general  respect  and  admiration. 
As  a  collector  of  antiquities  he  had  acquired  a  reputation,  and  we  are  told  that 
he  took  much  pleasure  in  poetry,  and  even  wrote  verses  himself.  Upright, 
loyal,  and  proud,  he  was,  as  one  of  his  biographers  has  said,"  a  man  who  took 
life  earnestly,  ardently,  with  no  doubts  of  its  worth,  or  of  the  value  of  his  own 
labors  therein,  and  with  no  half-heartedness  in  the  fulfilling  of  them;  he  was 
fired  by  the  true  Renaissance  zeal,  enthusiastic  and  devoted." 

To  the  very  last  he  applied  himself  with  characteristic  energy  to  his  art,  and 
in  his  later  years  produced  some  of  his  most  vigorous  works.  To  this  period 
many  critics  assign  the  powerful  but  repellent '  Dead  Christ,'  now  in  the  Brera 
Gallery,  Milan.    A  'St.  Sebastian'  in  the  collection  of  Baron  Franchetti,  Ven- 

[15.S] 


28  MASTERS     IN    ART 

ice,  belongs  to  this  period,  also  the  monochrome  painting  called  the  'Triumph 
of  Scipio,'  in  the  National  Gallery,  London. 

Mantegna's  last  years  were  saddened  by  pecuniar\  losses  and  domestic 
troubles.  Partly  through  his  own  too  lavish  expenditures,  and  partly  because 
of  the  misdeeds  of  one  of  his  three  sons,  Francesco,  who  was  in  constant  dis- 
grace at  the  Mantuan  court  and  a  sore  trial  to  his  father,  he  found  himself 
deeply  involved  in  debt.  So  urgent,  indeed,  was  his  need  that,  unable  to  work 
fast  enough  to  satisfy  his  creditors,  he  was  forced  to  part  with  the  most  precious 
of  all  his  antiques,  a  Roman  head  of  Faustina,  his  "dear  Faustina,"  as  he 
called  it.  This  he  offered  to  the  marchioness,  Isabella, for  the  sum  of  one  hun- 
dred ducats,  but  Isabella,  away  from  home  at  the  time,  strangely  enough  de- 
layed answering  the  pathetic  appeal  of  the  old  painter,  and  when  she  did  write 
it  was  to  endeavor  to  acquire  the  bust  at  a  lower  price.  Mantegna,  deeply 
hurt  by  her  long  silence,  angrily  refused  to  part  with  his  treasure  for  less  than 
the  sum  named,  and  the  marchioness  finally  acceded  to  his  terms.  Her  agent, 
Jacopo  Calandra,  writing  to  her  that  he  had  at  last  obtained  possession  of  the 
bust  for  her,  tells  how  Mantegna  put  the  precious  marble  into  his  hands  with 
great  reluctance,  recommending  it  to  his  care  with  much  solicitude  and  with 
such  demonstrations  of  jealous  aflfection  that,  adds  Calandra,  "if  he  were  not 
to  see  it  again  for  six  days  I  feel  convinced  he  would  die." 

And,  indeed,  the  end  came  soon  after  the  parting  from  his  dearest  posses- 
sion. Mantegna  was  ill  at  the  time,  and  six  weeks  later,  on  Sunday,  the  thir- 
teenth of  September,  1506,  he  died,  at  the  age  of  seventy-five.  In  accordance 
with  his  wish  he  was  buried  in  the  Church  of  Sant'  Andrea,  Mantua,  in  a 
small  chapel  there  which  in  his  old  age  he  had  purchased  for  a  last  resting- 
place. 

The  marquis,  Francesco  Gonzaga,  was  absent  from  Mantua  at  the  time 
of  Mantegna's  death,  and  one  of  the  painter's  sons,  writing  to  apprise  him  of 
the  event,  tells  him  how,  a  few  minutes  before  the  end,  Mantegna,  loyal  to 
the  last  to  the  family  he  had  served  so  long  and  so  honorably,  had  asked  for  his 
master,  "and  grieved  much  to  think  that  he  should  never  see  his  face  again." 
Isabella  seems  to  have  taken  the  news  of  the  old  painter's  death  very  casually, 
and  in  a  letter  written  at  the  time  to  her  husband,  alludes  to  the  event  in 
merely  passing  terms.  Others,  however,  felt  the  loss  more  keenly.  Albrecht 
Durer,  on  his  way  from  Venice  to  Mantua  to  visit  the  great  Mantegna,  to 
whose  art  he  owed  much  and  with  whose  genius  his  own  was  in  deep  sym- 
pathy, when  he  learned  that  the  painter  was  no  more,  declared,  and  was  often 
heard  to  repeat  the  words,  that  in  all  his  life  no  sadder  thing  had  ever  be- 
fallen him;  and  Lorenzo  da  Pavia,  the  noted  Venetian  collector  of  antiquities, 
who  had  known  and  admired  Mantegna,  wrote  to  the  marchioness,  Isabella, 
"I  grieve  deeply  over  the  loss  of  our  Messer  Andrea  Mantegna,  for  in  truth  a 
most  excellent  painter — another  Apelles,  I  may  say — is  gone  from  us.  But 
I  believe  that  God  will  employ  him  elsewhere  on  some  great  and  beautiful 
work,    tor  my  part  I  know  that  I  shall  never  again  see  so  fine  an  artist." 


[154] 


MANTEGNA  29 


%\)t  art  of  JHantegna 

EUGENE    MUNTZ  'HISTOIRE     DE    L'ART    PENDANT    LA    RENAISSANCE' 

AMONG  the  precursors  of  Raphael,  Andrea  Mantegna  stands  conspicu- 
L  ously  in  the  foremost  rank  between  Masaccio  on  the  one  side  and  Leo- 
nardo da  Vinci  on  the  other.  No  artist  is  more  representative  of  one  of  the  two 
chief  factors  of  the  new  era — the  study  of  antiquity;  and  when  in  addition  we 
remember  that  his  imagination  was  the  most  powerful,  his  style  the  most  re- 
strained and  the  most  finished,  we  may  indeed  ask  if  he  were  not  the  greatest 
painter  of  the  early  Renaissance.   .  .   . 

Besides  the  instruction  Mantegna  received  from  Squarcione  and  from 
Jacopo  Bellini,  Donatello's  influence  is  noteworthy.  The  Florentine  sculptor, 
as  we  know,  lived  in  Padua  from  1444  to  1453,  ^^^  therefore  it  is  probable 
that  Mantegna  knew  him  personally.  At  all  events,  the  young  Paduan  painter 
modeled  his  style  upon  that  of  Donatello  even  more  than  upon  that  of  either 
Squarcione  or  Bellini,  borrowing  from  him  the  types  of  his  children  with  their 
puffed-out  cheeks  and  tiny  mouths,  as  well  as  the  type  of  Christ  and  of  the 
Virgin.  Finally,  he  learned  from  Donatello  that  quality  of  pathos  which  is 
found  in  his  portrayals  of  the  Crucifixion  and  the  Entombment.  Once  in- 
deed, in  one  of  his  frescos  in  the  Church  of  the  Eremitani,  Padua,  he  copied 
Donatello's  'St.  George.' 

Instruction  imparted  more  or  less  directly  by  a  sculptor  to  a  painter  has  its 
disadvantages.  A  too  rigorous  imitation  of  sculpture  (I  am  speaking  now  not 
only  of  Donatello's  bronzes  but  of  antique  statues  as  well)  gave  a  cold  quality 
to  Mantegna's  coloring,  in  which  there  is  something  hard  and  dry.  Only  at 
times,  perhaps  under  the  influence  of  his  brothers-in-law  Giovanni  and  Gen- 
tile Bellini,  did  he  strike  a  warmer  and  more  genial  note,  a  richer  and  more 
golden  tone. 

Another  Florentine,  Paolo  Uccello  by  name,  was  his  exemplar  in  linear  per- 
spective and  the  art  of  foreshortening.  This  twofold  preoccupation  of  Man- 
tegna's plays  so  important  a  part  in  all  his  compositions  that  it  sometimes  in- 
terferes with  the  painter's  poetic  inspiration.  In  both  branches,  perspective 
and  foreshortening,  he  acquired  a  skill  so  consummate  that  it  has  never  been 
surpassed,  perhaps  not  even  equaled. 

But  the  chief  source  of  his  indebtedness,  that  of  all  others  from  which  he 
most  freely  drew,  was  antique  art.  To  search  with  all  the  eagerness  of  an  an- 
tiquary and  all  the  scientific  thoroughness  of  an  archaeologist  for  the  least 
fragment  in  the  way  of  statues,  bas-reliefs,  coins,  inscriptions,  marbles,  and 
bronzes,  which  could  be  useful  to  him  in  reconstructing  an  image  of  the  Roman 
world;  to  study  even  to  the  most  infinitesimal  details  the  costume,  the  furni- 
ture, and  the  armor  of  the  ancients;  to  consult  the  most  learned  scholars  as  to 
the  shape  of  a  sword,  the  bit  of  a  horse,  or  the  kind  of  boot  used  in  the  Roman 
armies,  and  then  from  this  infinity  of  material  and  with  inexhaustible  patience 
to  create  a  picture  at  once  living  and  poetic,  quickening  with  his  imagination 

IU>'>] 


30  MASTERS     IN    ART 

erudition  which  in  another  would  have  remained  sterile; — such  was  the  task 
which  Mantegna  accompHshed  with  signal  success. 

His  enthusiasm  for  the  study  of  antiquity,  however,  did  not  lead  him  to  neg- 
lect nature.  Possibly  if  antiquity  could  have  provided  him  with  more  numer- 
ous and  more  varied  models,  Mantegna  would  not  have  turned  to  nature  for  a 
guide;  but  much  is  lacking,  especially  for  a  painter,  in  the  models  offered  by 
antique  art.  Types,  it  is  true,  it  gave  him,  and  costumes,  armor,  furniture, 
buildings — in  short,  a  complete  archaeological  outfit;  but  no  color,  no  vegeta- 
tion, no  landscapes,  and  accordingly  Mantegna,  fortunately  for  us,  was  forced 
to  turn  his  attention  to  the  men  and  things  of  his  own  time;  in  a  word,  to  com- 
plete his  role  of  archaeologist  by  that  of  realist.  And  so  it  was  that,  like  Dona- 
tello,  his  immortal  prototype,  and  like  Raphael  in  later  years,  his  art  embraced 
two  entire  worlds — the  world  of  antiquity,  of  paganism,  and  the  world  of 
Christianity — and  he  became  the  enthusiastic  student  of  the  one,  the  fervent 
interpreter  of  the  other.   .  .  . 

Among  the  many  high  qualities  of  Mantegna's  achievement,  qualities  which 
through  him  have  become  the  common  patrimony  of  Italian  art,  composition 
may  be  said  to  owe  more  to  him  than  any  other  one  branch  of  art.  He  was 
undoubtedly  the  first  to  give  thought  to  the  construction  of  a  picture;  that  is 
to  say,  to  substitute  for  a  simple  juxtaposition  or  a  picturesque  grouping  of 
the  figures  an  arrangement  which  had  been  thoroughly  thought  out  as  a  whole, 
and  of  which  the  most  insignificant  parts  should  be  placed  as  carefully  as  fig- 
ures on  a  chessboard  in  the  hands  of  a  skilful  player.  Throughout  his  work 
we  are  conscious  of  a  firm  will  and  a  brain  ceaselessly  alert.  The  arrangement 
of  some  of  his  pictures  is  as  studied  in  its  accuracy  as  a  demonstration  in 
geometry — too  studied,  indeed,  for  if  this  great  artist  can  be  reproached  with 
a  fault  it  is  with  over-conscientiousness.  A  little  more  freedom,  a  little  more 
spontaneity,  would  sometimes  be  acceptable. 

Science  in  the  disposition  of  drapery  w^as  also  carried  by  Mantegna  to  a 
point  of  perfection  unknown  before  his  day.  His  inspiration  in  this  direction 
was  derived  from  both  the  precepts  of  Paolo  Uccello  and  from  the  Greek  and 
Roman  sculptors.  He  was  not  satisfied  to  skilfully  arrange  his  draperies  upon 
the  human  body,  to  make  them  follow  the  lines  caused  by  the  slightest  move- 
ment, and  dispose  them  in  accordance  with  the  most  complicated  anatomical 
problems — all  this  he  regarded  as  but  a  preliminary  step,  not  an  end.  He 
wished  in  addition  to  grapple  with  those  problems  of  harmony  and  of  elegance 
which  had  been  solved  with  such  marvelous  perfection  by  the  sculptors  of 
antiquity.  Thus  it  was  that  the  flow  of  the  drapery  became  bv  turn  in  Man- 
tegna's hands  picturesque,  bold,  and,  again,  truly  elo(|uent.   ... 

Here,  too,  the  artist,  conscientious  above  all,  sinned  through  excess.  When 
studied  carefully  his  draperies  will  often  be  found  to  be  too  hard,  too  stiff. 
Striving  with  implacable  logic  to  reproduce  even  the  smallest  folds,  the  tiniest 
ripples,  of  those  surfaces  which  in  their  very  nature  are  pliable,  he  gives  them 
a  metallic  appearance;  no  matter  how  softly  flowing  their  folds,  his  materials 
are  frequently  so  painted  that  they  seem  to  be  made  of  tin. 

As  was  the  case  with  Donatello,  Mantegna's  fame  and  influence  were  widely 

[150] 


^XTA  31 

M ANTEGNA 


e^enaea,  a„a  y«  he  canno,  be  ^^^::<^:Z::^::!::::!:^Z- 

callea.  Butifhehaanoa.rectpup.ls(noneolh>stn  Mantegna,  attainea 

,co,  ana  Berna,-aino,  nor  h,s  f-^^^/^jf  °|;';,^rre  Cosi™"  T-a  ana  Me- 

celebrity),  his  in,,tators  -"\"""  :  °,"' JwhatTs  best  in  their  art;  Raphael, 
lozzoaaForh.whoweremaebteatoh^iorw  ^^^    ^^^^^^^ 

who  borrowea  from  h.m  the  77%^";'^^^^"^  ,he  Vatican  aerivea  his  in- 
his  aecorations  of  the  Stanza  <»;=">  Segnatura.nth  ^^^^^^^^  ^^  ^^_^^^^_ 

spiration  from  Mantegna  s  ""^"'^  «  '"f  '^'^^^^^^„  ,„d  countless  others. 
C'^^rreggio,  P^olo  Veronese  Albr-ht  Du'     ^""^^^^^^        ^^^  engraver  eclipsea 
As  is  usually  the  case  n  "T^7°''■  °' P    L  quickly  muhipliea  ana  spreaa. 
the  painter.   A  prmt  "-^'^'l^^^l^^ll^'^  ^Tt  gnl's  paintings,  a  hunarea 
For  every  ten  avt.sts  who  couU  see  one  ot  ^         f    ^^^^  ^.^  _ 

-Xtr  AXr-S'elbu-low  valuelaia  more  towards  es- 

ra£il;ttme  than'  his  most  celebratea  p.nt.n^s^  ^^^^  ^_^^  ^^ 

•£r:rn:ri:it;ii:=ZoT:iuime.- 

•  ITALIAN    CITIES* 
cHANDE.W.BLASHFIELD  . 

•  ,  .ro    Kni-  looked  with  passion  and 

MANTEGNA  lookea  not  only  at  "«"'=•  H."V°„en  who  had  been  his 
devotion  upon  the  art  off^^^j/'^'pj^'/.fjn  personality  ana  the 
forerunners  by  a  -"enma^  an^  ^  ha^^  Jr  m^J^'^  ^,  ?,_  ,ig„  .Hythm 
work  of  the  Greeks  ana  Romans  he  '=''7  ,    6,  ;„„  of  nature  he  acquired 

measure;  from  his  own  personahty  and   ^e  observa  ^^^  ^^  ^^^.^.^^^ 

a  robust  naturaUsm  to  be  used  ."h^r^j^f^^^Xn  personal^  ana  his  loving 
-ut^CltXhe  glv^'mrnr:?  Ms^gures^a  kina  of  feverishly  v.ta. 

"=g'=ni.t"^rrlVh^eS 

Roman,  the  realistic  contemporaneo     .  and  th      d  a     yj  ^^^^  ._^ 

and  holy  personages.    It  -  "»"  M  n  e'na  aevelopea  his  Roman  types;  ana 

;ra;:ner:'^::9pH;rr^^^ 

pictures,  are  also  very  notable.  .  ^-  u^a  his  architecture,  and  has  rev- 

'   In  the  frescos  Mantegna  has  fairly  1^^^^^^^^^^^^^^  ^^^  .^^^^^^  ^^^  it  may 

eled  In  his  stage-setting.    This  ^ichitectu  & •  ^^re  than  his 

be  said  here  that  Mantegna  '  f^^l'^'lZ^^o^^^^^^^^  P-^""'^  ^^  ^^^"^ 

elaboration  of  detail,  interfered  with  the  unity  oH^  ^^^^^  ^^^^  ^^^^ 

fresco  as  a  whole.    The  --"-;V'Lows   the  architecture  is  too  emphatic, 
does  n't  mind  your  knowing  that  h    ^ -ws  the  ar^^^^^^  ^^^.^^^^^  ^^^^^^^^.^_^ 

and  the  emphasis  is  increased  by  the  ^^^^  ^^f^  ^  ,^hen  he  came  to  a  mat- 

was.  Uke  most  of  the  other  primitives,  sadly  hampeiea 

r    1    fr   "■  1 


32  MASTERS     IN     ART 

ter  of  atmospheric  perspectl\e.  He  is,  however,  in  hke  case  with  many  an- 
other; for,  save  in  the  hands  of  a  very  few  Venetians  and  Umbrians,  the  fif- 
teenth-century background  would  no  more  "down"  than  would  Banquo's 
ghost.  Mantegna's  buildings  are,  after  all,  only  in  the  second  plane,  not  the 
third  or  fourth;  and,  for  all  that  atmospherically  they  do  not  "know  their 
places,"  they  are  splendid  and  stately  frames,  more  accountable  perhaps  than 
any  other  one  thing  for  the  effect  ot  the  frescos.  If  his  architecture  is  all  an- 
tique, his  costumes  are,  in  three  of  the  rectangles  of  the  Eremitani  frescos, 
frankly  fifteenth-century;  in  the  others  they  are  of  that  pseudo-Roman  char- 
acter which  we  may  call  Mantegnesque. 

That  he  would  have  had  them  altogether  Roman  we  do  not  doubt;  but  the 
great  artist  cannot  forget  himself  wholly,  for  even  in  his  most  earnest  admira- 
tion Mantegna's  personality  asserts  itself,  as  it  should;  he  is  more  violent  than 
the  Greek,  and  he  refines  upon  the  later  Roman.  His  people  sometimes  move 
with  a  nervous  brusqueness  that  is  unsculptural  and  therefore  un-pagan;  more 
often  they  stand  statuesquely,  or  march  rhythmically,  as  in  the  'Triumph.' 
Their  long,  thin  bodies  are  evolved  directly  from  Mantegna's  own  personality. 
In  the  'Triumph  of  Caesar'  they  have  much  of  antique  grace;  in  the  frescos, 
ft  is  combined  with  a  great  deal  of  medieval  meagerness.  They  are  of  that 
type  which  Mantegna  preferred  to  all  others,  in  which  there  is  a  mixture  of 
ugliness  and  elegance  and  even  beauty,  leaning  now  to  the  beauty  side,  with 
the  striplings  and  children  of  the  Mantuan  cartoons,  now  to  the  side  of  ultra- 
elongation,  as  in 'The  Crucifixion' — the  type  with  a  powerful,  sharply  muscled 
thorax,  slender  but  elegantly  graceful  arms  and  legs,  and  small  heads.   .   .  . 

In  his  purely  sacred  pictures  Mantegna's  type  of  the  Madonna  is  akin  to 
Bellini's,  in  that  she  is  always  the  close-hooded  descendant  of  the  Byzantine 
Marys;  there  is  no  opportunity  for  the  picturesque  arrangement  of  hair  and 
veil  dear  to  the  Tuscans;  the  limitation  is  trying  and  calls  for  greater  feeling 
for  facial  beauty  in  women  than  Mantegna  possessed.  In  the  delightful 
army  of  Italian  winged  children  Mantegna's  hold  honorable  office;  real  babies 
hardly  existed  in  antique  art,  so  he  could  obtain  no  inspiration  from  his  Ro- 
mans, and  it  is  rather  the  little  angels  of  Giovanni  Bellini  who  are  the  brothers 
to  Mantegna's  children,  who,  we  suspect,  try  to  look  like  the  little  bronze  mu- 
sicians of  Donatello's  famous  Paduan  altar;  but  they  are  not  so  forceful  as 
Donatello's  children,  nor  so  w'inning  as  Bellini's.   .  .   . 

In  immediate  relation  to  his  flying  children  is  a  purely  decorative  and  alto- 
gether delightful  element  in  Mantegna's  pictures,  of  which  he  was,  if  not  the 
inventor,  at  least  the  typical  adapter  to  pictorial  purpose.  He  brought  to  a 
fuller  color-life  the  Delia  Robbia  garlands  of  green  and  white,  and  swung  them 
across  his  frescos.  They  are  heavier  and  thicker  than  Luca's  festoons — so 
heavy,  indeed,  that  infant  geniuses  easily  ride  astride  or  climb  them  like  trees. 
Flowers  and  fruits  almost  as  solid-looking  as  the  glazed  earthern  pears  and 
apples  of  the  Delia  Robbia  are  set  in  them  with  a  perfect  regularity  which, 
like  the  formalizing  of  Italian  gardens,  makes  them  but  more  decorative.   .   .  . 

Having  glanced,  if  ever  so  hastily,  at  types,  architecture,  and  ornament,  the 
material  from  which  Mantegna  evolved  his  art,  let  us  even  more  briefly  con- 

[158] 


MANTEGNA  ^^ 


s,der  h,s  technique,  his  drawing  color.  -\7-P°r%htrU,cC;uttIol' 
we  .ay  not  ca„  hi.  the  pnnce  o  a,,  ts^^n  of  aU  t,m.  The    ^^^  ^^<,^^^^  ^^ 

cannot  be  answered,  for  th"^"^  ™  l^^J^ho.  as  our  mood  changes,  may 
Parnassus,  and  ,ts  upper  slopes  'Y™  .  Mfrhdaneelo  Leonardo  and  Titian. 
s,t  in  turn  with  Apollo.  R^P''" L  i«,o  make  up'  a  charmed  circle,  and 
^r'^T\'l°ld'^:fX:i;t::th";i"-e7thegatesswingtogether. 
when  the  threshold  ot  the  sixteenui  j  masters  whom 

closing  upon  an  older  and  a  'ff-^;; ^  ,  o^^hY^hoUy  rounded  perfect.on 
we  call  primitive  must  still  linger,  aepnvcu  ,u„..„u  thev  may  be  without 

that  came  to  those  of  the  H.gh  R^^-^lf^'^^ '',^\t  earn  7Gio^L,ni  Bellmi 
it   nearest  to  this  circle,  m  our  hearts  at  least,  sit  tne 

and  the  lofty-minded  Mantegna.  K^^-note  for  Mantegna,  in  his  chal- 

M.  Mantx  ,n  his  -*--^,;°7„t  J  h  'Koreans  upon  disign  and  style, 

lenge  to  posterity,  stands  firmly  as  one  or  n  r  ^^^  ^^^_ 

thole  bases  of  pictorial  art.  No  -f«^,''°"^^"tne  and  nearly  all  of  his  dis- 
line  in  most  of  his  wall-pictures,  all  of  ^'^      g"™f '^^  f  ^„  ^^  „f  ;„ 

temper  panels  is  dehcate  ^-"^  sensitive,  fuh  of  charac^i^  .^  ^g^^  ^^^ 

^:;-irt:s::t:.  J^z:^:::::^^^'^ ..  ^o..!....  almost 

■'^'^- KtTgfmust  be  reckoned  his  J-™- .^ ^2^^.:^^: 
made  an  important,  perhaps  too  ™P°"-';,f  ^j  „''rthe'attractiveness  of 
he  performed  with  it  some  very  pretty  f^"^' ^''"'^^^^^     ^  exactly  upon 

his  work,  especially  in  l"^P'«'"S°f'^"J°X"een  from  below  (as  in  the 

^y-ilte-d^  £:r;t^:Sirof^r>em  than  for  any 

enhancement  afforded  by  it  to  his  picture       .^  ^^  _^^^^^.^,  ^, 

Mantegna  loved  to  compose  -^  hked   o  h  "d  e  a  g_^^  ^^^^^  ^  ^.^^^ 

a  time;  the  Madonna  and  C^'"  J;^by^^^^^^  ^  i„,„nce.    He  liked  a 

as  a  subject,  as  they  did  his  bro  her  in  '»™  ■^^  architecture  and 

procession  much  better,  or  ^"'^"•^^^^"f.^'lt^.eneL   d-P-i™">  were  in  de- 
landscape.    His  draperies,  though  dignified  in  gene^  p  ^^^^^  ^|^_^ 
tail  what  the  French  would  call  tormented^  full  ot  fit                 y.^^  ^^^  ^^^^ 
seemed  to  suggest  the  copperplates  ot  N"«mbeig,  and            P  ^^^.^^ 
that  Mantegna  was  engraver  -"^''^^PJ  Effect  of  ligh    falling  upon  objects 
he  composed  well  with  light.    "^  1^^"    ^e  ^nXd  l^is  figures,  for  he  seemed 
in  the  round;  yet  it  cannot  be  said  'hat  he  env      p               b                expression 
,o  see  everything  in  nature  circumscribed  ^V  ^  P""  ""     ^ed  a  little  further 
through  design  he  exhibited  a  dua   ""f  .^  P"^""^'^^;  ^^  ^t  form  part  of  a 
in  one  direction,  his  drawmg  of    Judith     m  ^'^^""V^e  Section,  his  Gou- 
Greek  vase  painting;  pushed  J,'"''^  f""^" '",  ^::rcaricatures.    Though  an 
zaga  nobles  of  the  Mantuan  Castello  would  ^e-^e  ^^                     ^f  ^,„„,em- 
ea?nest  student  of  the  antique  ""'''j;]';"y  elevated  realism  and  noble 
porary  life  as  well.   Moving  in  this  wide  gamut  ol  elevat 


34  MASTERSINART 

idealism,  he  always  preserved  a  loftiness  of  feeling  which  made  him  at  times  a 

peer  of  Michelangelo,  while  he  possessed  a  ternbilita  of  his  own  a  quarter  of  a  j 

century  before  the  great  Tuscan  began  to  work.    His  love  of  sculptural  repose 

and  dignity  did  not  prevent  him  from  being  intensely  dramatic  in  his  predella 

of  the  San  Zeno  Madonna,  and  although  his  figures  often  grimace  and  distort  I 

their  features,  yet  the  contortion  which  became  pathos  with  Bellini  deepened 

into  tragedy  with  Mantegna. 

As  might  have  been  predicted,  this  lover  of  sculpture  was  lacking  in  feeling 
for  color,  a  deficiency  which  few  critics  have  noted,  and  which  the  late  Paul 
Mantz  has  characterized  admirably,  remarking  that  Mantegna  was  a  "bril- 
liant but  rather  venturesome  colorist,"  and  that,  "tones  which  are  fine,  if  con- 
sidered by  themselves,  are  heard  above  the  general  harmony  of  the  music,  and 
are  rather  autonomous  than  disciplined.".  .  . 

In  his  earlier  works,  the  frescos  of  the  Eremitani  of  Padua,  Mantegna  is  in 
his  coloring  like  a  child  with  a  toy  paint-box,  spotting  out  impartially  here  a 
yellow  mantle  and  there  a  green  tunic,  without  reference  to  any  general  scheme 
of  color.  He  learned  later  from  Bellini  to  use  rich,  strong  tones  in  the  Ma- 
donnas of  San  Zeno,  at  Verona,  and  of  Victory  in  the  Louvre.  Whether  the 
unevenness,  the  lack  of  composition  of  color  in  those  works,  was  wholly  Man- 
tegna's  fault  we  cannot  tell;  for  in  considering  the  color  of  these,  as  of  many 
old  pictures,  we  are  unable  to  speak  with  confidence,  since  time  has  so  altered 
the  relations  that  we  can  no  longer  in  anywise  verify  the  master's  original  ar- 
rangement, and  alterations  would  be  peculiarly  apt  to  occur  in  the  heavy  gar- 
lands of  Mantegna,  with  their  coral  and  fruits,  where  the  strong  reds  may 
have  remained  brilliant,  while  the  greens  have  fallen  into  warm,  deep  browns. 
Nevertheless,  when  all  allowance  is  made,  it  must  be  confessed  that  this  mighty 
master  of  style  and  of  composition  of  lines  was  almost  wholly  lacking  in  the 
sense  of  color-composition.  Indeed,  it  could  hardly  be  expected  that  the  same 
temperament  which  could  so  keenly  perceive  and  so  adequately  render  the 
grave  music  of  noble  and  exquisite  line  could  be  equally  susceptible  to  the 
deep-chorded  harmonies  of  rich  and  subdued  color. 

Considering  his  whole  product,  his  cartoons  and  his  wall-pictures,  his  tem- 
pera work  and  his  engraving,  we  find  that  immediately  after  the  five  or  six 
greatest  names  in  the  history  of  Italian  art  comes  that  of  Andrea  Mantegna; 
he  stands  at  the  head  of  the  group  of  secondary  painters  which  counted  Ghir- 
landajo,  Botticelli,  and  Filippino  Lippi,  Bellini,  Signorelli,  and  Perugino 
among  its  members.  His  name  brings  with  it  the  memory  of  a  lofty  and  in- 
tensely characterized  style,  of  figures  of  legionaries,  long  and  lean  as  North 
American  Indians,  Roman  in  their  costume,  medieval  in  their  sharp,  dry  sil- 
houette; of  saints,  hard  and  meager,  but  statuesquely  meager;  of  figures  stern 
almost  to  fierceness,  yet  exquisitely  refined  in  the  delicacy  of  their  outline;  of 
realistic  Mantuan  nobles  impressive  in  their  ugliness;  of  stately  Madonnas; 
of  charming  boy  angels,  flying  or  holding  up  festoons  of  flowers  and  fruits;  of 
delicate,  youthful  figures  with  long  curling  hair  and  crinkled  drapery,  where 
every  tiny  fold  is  finished  as  if  in  a  miniature;  of  canvases  filled  with  long 
files  of  captives,  with  chariots  loaded  with  treasure,  with  sky-lines  broken  by 

[KiO] 


MANTEGNA  35 

standards  and  trophies,  with  armored  legionaries,  curveting  horses,  elephants 
with  jeweled  frontlets,  and  with  statues  towering  above  the  crowd;  of  proces- 
sions where  the  magnificent  vulgarity  of  ancient  Rome  and  the  confused  lav- 
ishness  of  an  antique  triumph  are  subdued  to  measured  harmonies  and  sculp- 
tural lines. 

Mantegna's  is  essentially  a  virile  genius;  he  does  not  charm  by  suggestive- 
ness,  nor  please  by  morbidezza;  he  lacks  facile  grace  and  feeling  for  facial 
beauty;  he  is  often  cold,  sometimes  even  harsh  and  crude,  and  in  his  disdain 
for  prettiness  and  his  somewhat  haughty  distinction  he  occasionally  impresses 
us  with  a  rather  painful  sense  of  superiority.  Something  of  the  antique  statues 
that  he  loved  and  studied  and  collected  entered  into  his  own  nature  and  his 
work.  As  Fra  Angelico  was  the  Saint,  and  Leonardo  da  Vinci  the  Magician, 
Mantegna  was  the  Ancient  Roman  of  art.  His  were  the  Roman  virtues, — 
sobriety,  dignity,  self-restraint,  discipline,  and  a  certain  masterliness,  as  in- 
describable as  it  is  impressive,  —  and  to  those  who  appreciate  austere  beauty 
and  the  pure  harmonies  of  exquisite  lines  Mantegna's  art  will  always  appeal. 


C|)e  l^orlts  of  iMantesna 

DESCRIPTIONS    OF    THE    PLATES 
♦  MADONNA    WITH    ST.    JOHN    AND    MARY    MAGDALENE'  PLATE     I 

TO  the  closing  years  of  the  fifteenth  century  may  be  assigned  this  pic- 
ture in  the  National  Gallery,  London.  The  Madonna,  wearing  a  rose- 
colored  robe  and  a  gray-blue  mantle,  is  seated  upon  a  low  throne,  beneath 
a  red  canopy,  humbly  inclining  her  head  towards  the  Christ-child,  who 
stands  firmly  poised  upon  her  knee.  On  one  side  is  St.  John  the  Baptist  with 
cross  and  scroll,  his  gaunt  figure  draped  in  a  garment  of  bluish  purple;  on 
the  other,  Mary  Magdalene,  with  fair  hair  and  majestic  mien,  clad  in  robes 
of  green  and  pale  purple.  Dark  green  orange  and  lemon  trees  and  a  silvery 
sky  form  the  background. 

"The  tenderness  and  simplicity  of  the  Virgin's  face,"  writes  Sir  Edward  |. 
Poynter,  "the  beauty  of  the  heads  of  the  two  saints,  the  exquisite  drawing  and 
painting  of  the  fruit-trees, the  perfection  of  the  execution,  and  the  purity  of  the 
color,  all  combine  to  make  this  picture  one  of  Mantegna's  masterpieces.  The 
draperies  especially  are  of  extraordinary  beauty.  The  rose-colored  dress  of 
the  Virgin  is  delicately  heightened  with  gold,  and  the  garments  of  the  two 
saints  are  of  materials  shot  with  colors  of  exquisite  harmonies.  The  whole 
work  is  in  perfect  preservation." 

'MEETING    OF    LODOVICO    GONZAGA    AND    CARDINAL    FRANCESCO'  PLATE     II 

TEN  years  after  his  removal  to  Mantua,  Mantegna  began  to  decorate  a 
room  in  the  Castello  known  as  the  "Camera  degli  Sposi"  (the  nup- 
tial chamber),  with  frescos  representing  Lodovico,  marquis  of  Mantua,  sur- 

[Kil] 


36  MASTERS     IN    ART 

rounded  by  his  family  and  court.  Over  the  entrance  door  is  a  group  of 
winged  boys  bearing  a  tablet,  and  on  the  ceiling  are  medallions  and  mytho- 
logical subjects,  with  a  simulated  circular  opening  in  the  center  through 
which  figures  in  violent  foreshortening  look  down  over  a  balustrade. 

In  plate  ii,  the  principal  portion  of  one  of  the  best  preserved  of  the  wall- 
paintings  of  this  famous  room  is  reproduced.  The  marquis  Lodovico,  in 
short  riding-coat  and  wearing  long  spurs,  stands  at  the  left  with  his  two  eldest 
grandsons,  Francesco,  afterwards  marquis  of  Mantua,  whose  features  even 
in  this  early  picture  are  the  same  that  we  see  in  his  portrait  introduced  into 
the  'Madonna  of  Victory'  (plate  vi),  and  a  younger  brother,  Sigismondo, 
afterwards  a  cardinal,  who  holds  the  hand  of  his  uncle,  Lodovico,  the  youth- 
ful bishop  of  Mantua.  Lodovico's  hand  in  turn  is  clasped  within  that  of  his 
older  brother.  Cardinal  Francesco  Gonzaga,  whose  meeting  with  his  father, 
the  marquis,  upon  his  return  from  Rome  and  prior  to  his  state  entry  into 
Mantua  in  1472,  forms  the  subject  of  this  picture.  At  the  extreme  right,  in 
a  stiffly  plaited  gold  mantle,  stands  Federico  Gonzaga,  father  of  the  two  chil- 
dren represented,  and  heir  to  the  Mantuan  principality.  Nobles  and  attend- 
ants are  grouped  about,  and  in  the  landscape  background  with  its  deep  blue 
sky  is  a  walled  city  with  monuments  and  ruins  suggestive  of  Rome. 

"Mantegna,"  as  Mr.  Blashfield  has  said,  "here  shows  himself  a  realist. 
The  portrait  figures  are  of  a  monumental  ugliness  which  impresses  at  once  b)' 
its  sincerity,  and  a  dignity  that  is  half  grotesque  and  half  majestic."  The 
composition  is  stiff  and  the  figures  are  posed  without  any  attempt  at  ease  or 
grace;  but  in  spite  of  this,  and  notwithstanding  the  injured  condition  of  the 
frescos,  the  Camera  degli  Sposi  offers  one  of  the  most  perfect  existing  ex- 
amples of  domestic  decoration. 

«THE     HOLY     FAMILY'  PLATE    III 

IN  this  picture,  belonging  to  Dr.  Ludwig  Mond,  London,  the  Christ-child 
stands  on  the  marble  rim  of  a  well,  representing  the  hortus  tnclusus,  or  in- 
closed garden,  the  source,  or  fountain,  of  the  Song  of  Solomon.  In  one  hand 
he  holds  an  olive-branch,  in  the  other  a  crystal  globe.  Beside  him  is  the  infant 
St.  John,  pointing  to  the  Lamb  of  God,  and  to  the  right  St.  Joseph,  against 
whose  garnet-colored  cloak  is  outlined  the  delicate  profile  of  the  Virgin,  in- 
clined in  prayer.  The  background  is  composed  of  the  dark  green  branches  of 
an  orange-tree,  gleaming  with  golden  fruit. 

"Whether  we  consider  this  canvas,"  writes  Mr.  Berenson,  "from  the  point 
of  view  of  line  or  of  color — a  quality  of  which  Mantegna  is  not  often  abso- 
lute master — whether  from  the  point  of  view  of  modeling  or  of  expression,  we 
shall  rarely  find  its  rival  among  the  other  works  of  the  great  Paduan,  and 
never  its  superior." 

Mr.  Claude  Phillips  says  that  "apart  from  the  originality  of  its  composition 
the  most  unusual  feature  of  this  work  is  the  strange  and  profound  spirit  of 
mysticism  which  pervades  it.  This  is  no  usual  'Holy  Family,'  where  the 
Virgin,  while  adoring,  protects  the  divine  Child,  nor  is  it  any  mere  portrayal 
of  the  Infant  Jesus;  it  is  rather  the  Christ,  who,  with  all  the  appearance  of  a 

[102] 


M  ANTEGN  A  37 

God,  stands  erect  upon  the  margin  of  the  well  as  upon  a  throne,  while  all 
present  devoutly  humble  themselves  before  this  radiant  manifestation  of 
divinity." 

»  T  H  E     C  R  U  C  I  F  I  X  I  O  N  •  P  I.  A  T  E     1  V 

IN  1457-59  Mantegna  painted  a  large  altar-piece  in  six  parts  for  the  Church 
of  San  Zeno,  Verona.  The  enthroned  Madonna  and  Child,  surrounded  by 
singing  angels,  occupy  the  main  central  division;  on  either  side  are  four  stand- 
ing figures  of  saints,  while  the  three  lower  panels  forming  the  predella  repre- 
sent, in  the  center,  'The  Crucifixion,'  and  in  the  side  compartments  'The 
Agony  in  the  Garden'  and  'The  Resurrection.'  This  picture  was  carried  off 
to  Paris  by  the  French  in  1797,  but  in  18 15  the  three  panels  composing  the 
body  of  the  altar-piece  were  restored  to  Italy,  and  are  now  in  their  original 
place  in  Verona.  The  predella,  however,  was  not  returned.  Its  two  side  di- 
visions are  in  the  Tours  Museum,  while  the  finest  of  the  three,  'The  Cru- 
cifixion,' here  reproduced,  remained  in  Paris,  and  is  now  in  the  Louvre. 

In  this  little  panel,  measuring  not  much  more  than  two  feet  high  by  three 
feet  wide,  many  characteristics  of  Mantegna's  art  are  to  be  found — the  com- 
position, built  up  with  geometrical  precision,  the  carefully  studied  perspective, 
the  figures  unnaturally  elongated,  yet  drawn  with  bold  and  severe  realism, 
the  sculpturesque  draperies,  the  landscape,  in  which  the  rocky  foreground  has 
the  appearance  of  being  cut  with  a  chisel;  above  all,  the  impressive  dramatic 
effect,  produced  not  so  much  by  any  violent  movement  as  by  contrast  in  the 
delineation  of  character  and  feeling. 

In  his  later  works  Mantegna  displays  a  greater  freedom,  a  less  uncompro- 
mising severity,  a  keener  sense  of  abstract  beauty;  but  in  depth  of  pathos  and 
in  power  of  dramatic  feeling  this  picture  of  the  Crucifixion  is  unsurpassed. 

«THE     TRIUMPH     OF    CiESAR'    [fourth     SECTION]  PLATE     V 

IN  this  great  work,  painted  between  1484  and  1492  for  Francesco  Gonzaga, 
Mantegna  has  portrayed  in  a  series  of  nine  pictures  a  triumphal  procession 
of  a  Roman  conqueror.  Probably  intended  to  adorn  a  long  gallery  in  the  mar- 
quis's palace  of  San  Sebastiano,  at  Mantua,  six  of  these  canvases  were  at  one 
time  used  as  the  stage  decorations  of  a  theater  temporarily  fitted  up  in  the 
Castello  for  the  performance  of  Latin  plays.  In  1627  the  whole  work  was 
bought  for  King  Charles  i.  by  his  agent  in  Italy,  Daniel  Nys,  and  taken  to 
England,  where  it  now  forms  the  chief  treasure  of  the  Royal  Gallery  of  Hamp- 
ton Court.  In  the  eighteenth  century  it  was  barbarously  "restored  "  b\-  Louis 
Laguerre,  so  that  to-day  but  little  remains  of  Mantegna's  splendid  work  save 
the  composition  and  general  forms;  but  even  in  its  present  state  of  ruined 
grandeur  'The  Triumph  of  Caesar'  ranks  as  one  of  the  greatest  achievements 
of  the  early  Renaissance. 

The  painting  is  on  canvas,  in  tempera,  and  is  light  in  color  and  decorative 
in  effect.  Each  of  the  nine  sections  measures  nine  feet  square,  so  that  the 
whole  work  extends  for  a  distance  of  eighty-one  feet.  The  first  section  shows 
the  trumpeters  and  standard-bearers  heading  the  procession;  these  are  fol- 

[l(>:n 


38  MASTERS     IN     ART 

lowed  by  warriors  with  battering-rams  and  the  captured  images  of  gods, 
armor,  and  other  trophies  of  war;  then  come  bearers  of  costly  vessels,  more 
trumpeters,  and  white  oxen  wreathed  for  sacrifice  and  led  by  beautiful  youths 
(see  plate  v);  next  come  elephants  carrying  flaming  candelabra  on  their  backs, 
then  soldiers  with  more  booty,  and,  following  these,  a  line  of  captives,  men, 
women,  and  children,  mocked  and  taunted  by  jesters  and  clowns;  then  more 
soldiers  and  standard-bearers,  and  finally,  in  the  last  section  of  all,  the  mag- 
nificent triumphal  car  in  which  Julius  Caesar  himself  is  seated,  while  behind 
a  winged  figure  of  Victory  crowns  the  conqueror  with  laurel. 

'The  Triumph  of  Caesar'  is,  as  has  been  said,  "a  superb  exposition  of  what 
Mantegna  loved  best  to  study  and  express;  it  is  the  very  quintessence  of  his 
genius."  "This  rhythmic  procession," writes  John  AddingtonSymonds," mod- 
ulated to  the  sound  of  flutes  and  soft  recorders,  carries  our  imagination  back 
to  the  best  days  and  strength  of  Rome.  .  .  .  The  life  we  vainly  look  for  in  the 
frescos  of  the  Eremitani  chapel  may  be  found  here  —  statuesque,  indeed,  in 
style  and  stately  in  movement,  but  glowing  with  the  spirit  of  revived  antiquity. 
The  processional  pomp  of  legionaries  bowed  beneath  their  trophied  arms,  the 
monumental  majesty  of  robed  citizens,  the  gravity  of  stoled  and  veiled  priests, 
the  beauty  of  young  slaves,  and  all  the  paraphernalia  of  spoils  and  wreathes 
and  elephants  and  ensigns,  are  massed  together  with  the  self-restraint  of  noble 
art  subordinating  pageantry  to  rules  of  lofty  composition.  What  must  the 
genius  of  the  man  have  been  who  could  move  thus  majestically  beneath  the 
weight  of  painfully  accumulated  erudition,  converting  an  antiquarian  motive 
into  a  theme  for  melodies  of  line  composed  in  the  grave  Dorian  mood  ?" 

'THEMADONNAOFVICTORy  PLATEVI 

THIS  picture,  the  most  sumptuous  of  Mantegna's  altar-pieces,  was  painted 
to  commemorate  what  was  claimed  to  be  a  victory  by  Francesco  Gon- 
zaga,  general  of  the  Venetian  troops,  over  the  French  army  at  Fornovo  under 
Charles  viii.  Although  Gonzaga  acquited  himself  with  bravery,  the  battle, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  terminated  not  in  victory  but  in  defeat  for  the  young  mar- 
quis, who  had  vowed,  should  success  attend  him,  to  dedicate  a  church  to  the 
Madonna;  and  exactly  a  year  afterwards,  on  July  6,  1496,  Mantegna's  great 
canvas  of  the  'Madonna  of  Victory,'  painted  by  order  of  Francesco,  was  con- 
veyed in  solemn  procession  from  the  artist's  studio  in  Mantua  to  the  new 
church  built  after  Mantegna's  own  designs  for  its  reception.  Three  hundred 
years  later,  in  1797,  the  French  carried  off^the  picture  as  a  trophy  of  war  to 
Paris,  where  it  has  ever  since  been  one  of  the  treasures  of  the  Louvre. 

Under  an  arched  bower  of  green  foliage  adorned  with  golden  fruit'  and  red 
coral,  the  Madonna,  wearing  a  red  robe  interwoven  with  gold  and  a  blue 
mantle  lined  with  green,  and  holding  on  her  knee  the  upright  figure  of  the 
Child,  is  seated  upon  a  richly  decorated  throne  of  colored  marble.  At  her  feet, 
his  dark  face  turned  upward  to  the  holy  group,  kneels  Francesco  Gonzaga, 
clad  from  head  to  foot  in  armor.  Opposite  him  is  the  kneeling  figure  of  St. 
Elizabeth,  in  a  green  dress  and  orange-colored  head-dress,  and  beside  her 
the  little  St.   John.     The  heads  of  St.  Andrew  and  St.  Longinus,  the  patron 

[104] 


MANTEGNA  39 

saints  of  Mantua,  are  seen  in  the  background,  while  on  either  side  of  the  Ma- 
donna, holding  the  hem  of  her  outspread  mantle,  stand  the  warrior-saints, St. 
Michael  and  St.  Georee. 

"In  the  'Madonna  of  Victory,'"  writes  Herr  Kristeller,  "Mantegna  goes 
far  beyond  the  art  methods  of  his  day.  The  picture  represents  the  freest  and 
most  mature  form  of  religious  composition  which  the  art  of  the  Renaissance 
was  capable  of  attaining  prior  to  Raphael,  Titian,  and  Correggio,  and  was 
the  prototype,  or  point  of  departure,  of  the  creations  of  the  great  masters  of 
the  golden  age." 

'ST.JAMESBEFOREHERODAGRIPPA"  I'LATE     \1I 

MANTEGNA'S  earliest  important  works  are  his  famous  frescos  in  the 
Chapel  of  St.  James  and  St.  Christopher  in  the  Church  of  the  Eremitani 
in  Padua.  The  commission  to  decorate  this  chapel  with  scenes  from  the  lives 
of  their  patron  saints  was  given  by  its  owners,  the  Ovetari  family,  to  Squar- 
cione,  who  intrusted  the  work  to  his  pupils,  chief  among  whom  were  Niccolo 
Pizzolo  and  Mantegna,  and  so  wide  a  reputation  did  these  frescos  attain  that 
when  completed  the  chapel  became  throughout  the  north  of  Italy  a  sort  of 
school  for  the  study  of  style. 

A  difference  of  opinion  exists  among  critics  as  to  the  extent  of  Mantegna's 
share  in  the  decorations,  but  it  is  generally  agreed  that  six  of  the  principal  wall- 
paintings — four  from  the  life  of  St.  James  and  two  from  that  of  St.  Chris- 
topher—  are  attributable  to  his  hand.  Of  these  the  one  representing  'St. 
James  before  Herod  Agrippa'  is  here  reproduced.  The  scene,  a  Roman  court- 
room, is  imposing  in  its  stately  architectural  setting.  The  saint,  clad  in  a  dark 
green  mantle  and  surrounded  by  Roman  soldiers,  stands  before  the  judgment- 
seat  of  Herod.  We  are  conscious  in  this  picture  of  the  artist's  preoccupation 
with  the  problems  of  perspective,  as  well  as  of  his  "tendency  to  subordinate 
the  human  to  the  architectural  interests."  A  statuesque  immobility  marks 
many  of  the  figures,  notably  that  of  Herod  and  of  the  isolated  warrior  to  the 
left  (said  to  be  a  portrait  of  the  artist),  but  there  are  also  perceptible — in  the 
attitudes  of  some  of  the  guards  and  in  the  natural  pose  of  the  officer  within 
the  marble  paling — signs  of  the  beginning  of  that  gradual  emancipation  ot 
Mantegna's  art  from  the  lifeless  rigidity  of  form  which  characterized  his  work 
at  this  early  period  to  the  broader,  freer,  and  more  natural  treatment  of  his 
later  productions. 

'MADONNA     AND     CHILD     WITH     CHERUBS'  PLATE     VIII 

WHEN,  in  1885,  this  picture,  now  in  the  Brera  Gallery,  Milan,  was  sub- 
jected to  a  thorough  cleaning  it  was  found  to  be  not  a  work  of  the  school 
of  Giovanni  Bellini,  as  it  had  long  been  considered,  but  a  veritable  Mantegna, 
a  fine  example  of  the  artist's  middle  period.  Signor  Frizzoni,  Signor  Morelli, 
and  others,  believe  it  to  be  the  identical  picture  painted  by  Mantegna  in  1485 
for  the  Duchess  Eleonora  of  Ferrara,  whose  daughter,  Isabella  d'Este,  was 
then  betrothed  to  Francesco  Gonzaga,  marquis  of  Mantua, — the  "painting 
on  wood  of  Our  Lady  and  the  Child  with  Seraphim,"  concerning  which 

[Kir,] 


40  MASTERS    IN    ART 

many  letters  passed  between  the  duchess  and  her  future  son-in-law,  and  which 
long  remained  in  the  possession  of  the  Este  family  at  Ferrara. 

The  Madonna,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  ever  painted  by  Mantegna,  wear- 
ing a  red  robe  and  a  hooded  mantle  of  blue  lined  with  green,  holds  on  her  knee 
the  standing  figure  of  the  Child,  who,  with  arms  clasped  about  his  mother's 
neck,  is  listening  with  rapt  expression  to  the  song  of  the  encircling  angels  float- 
ing with  outspread  bright-colored  wings  among  the  clouds. 

'I'ORTRAITOFCARDINALSCARAMPI'  PLATEIX 

AMBITIOUS,  talented,  passionate,  and  unscrupulous,  Lodovico  Scarampi 
>.  was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  of  his  day  in  Italy.  Born  in  Padua 
in  1402,  he  became  distinguished  as  a  leader  of  the  papal  troops,  and  as  a  re- 
ward for  his  military  services  was  invested  with  high  ecclesiastical  honors,  be- 
ing created  archbishop  of  Florence,  patriarch  of  Aquileia,  bishop  of  Bologna, 
and  finally  given  a  cardinal's  hat.  From  his  rich  revenues  he  amassed  enor- 
mous wealth,  and  lived  with  a  lavish  display  of  luxury,  dying  in  1465,  from 
disappointment,  it  was  said,  that  he  never  succeeded  to  the  papal  chair. 

In  Mantegna's  famous  portrait  in  the  Berlin  Gallery,  painted  probably  in 
Padua  in  1459,  Cardinal  Scarampi  is  clad  in  a  red  silk  cloak  and  a  finely 
plaited  white  surplice.  The  powerful  head  with  its  crop  of  short  gray  hair  has 
the  appearance  of  being  cast  in  bronze,  and  the  stern  features,  sharply  cut 
mouth,  keen  eyes,  and  contracted  brows  reveal  in  all  its  force  the  character 
which  history  has  handed  down  to  us  of  the  arrogant,  iron-willed  priest. 

'I'ARNASSUS'  PLATE     X 

SOON  after  1500,  Mantegna,  then  seventy  years  of  age,  painted  for  the 
study  of  Isabella  d'Este,  in  the  Castello  of  Mantua,  two  pictures,  repre- 
senting, one  'The  Triumph  of  Wisdom,'  the  other  'Parnassus.' 

For  all  paintings  destined  for  her  own  special  room  Isabella  gave  exact  di- 
rections as  to  subject,  composition,  distribution  of  light,  and  dimensions.  It 
was  her  custom  to  provide  any  artist  she  employed,  not  only  with  a  sketch, 
but  to  send  him  pieces  of  ribbon  denoting  the  requisite  height  and  width  of 
the  picture  ordered.  In  carrying  out  her  wishes  in  regard  to  the  work  here 
reproduced,  "Mantegna,"  writes  Miss  Cruttwell,  "entered  on  a  new  phase  of 
development,  and  showed  himself  already  a  sixteenth-century  painter — the 
precursor,  one  might  almost  say,  of  Poussin  and  Watteau." 

The  scene  represents  'Parnassus,' the  favorite  haunt  of  Apollo  and  the 
Muses,  where,  upon  a  rocky  archway  crowned  with  orange-trees,  stand  Mars, 
god  of  war,  and  Venus,  goddess  of  love  and  beauty.  At  their  side  is  Cupid 
playfully  casting  darts  at  Vulcan,  who  is  seen  at  his  forge  on  the  left.  In  a 
meadow  below,  the  Muses,  in  light  garments  of  varied  tints,  dance  to  the  mu- 
sic of  Apollo's  lyre,  celebrating  the  triumph  of  love,  and  at  the  right  is  Mer- 
cury, messenger  of  the  gods,  and  himself  the  god  of  eloquence,  with  the  winged 
horse,  Pegasus,  beside  him. 

In  this  picture,  conceived  with  the  brightness  of  youth,  "all  the  aged  paint- 
er's knowledge  of  classic  lore,"  writes  Paul  Mantz,  "finds  expression,  but 

[16(1] 


M  ANTEGN  A  •.•,"•'..'...'  1 '^fj'"  ;\  : 

devoid  of  the  archaism  and  austerity  which  characterize  his  early  works. 
Such  defects  have  disappeared,  and  only  pure  rhythm  and  harmony  of  line 
remain.    It  is  the  very  flower,  the  essence,  of  the  poetry  of  the  Greeks." 

After  the  sack  of  Mantua  in  1630,  'Parnassus'  and  its  companion,  'The 
Triumph  of  Wisdom,'  were  taken  to  France,  and  are  now  in  the  Louvre,  Paris. 

A     LIST     OF    TUK     PRINCIPAL     PAINTINGS     BY     MA  N  TEG  N  A 
WITH     THEIR     PRESENT     LOCATIONS 

M  ANTEGN A'S  wall-pa'ntings  are  spoken  ot  as  frescos,  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  they 
were  executed  in  tempera  upon  a  dry  surface.     Tempera  was  also  the  medium  he 
invariably  used  tor  his  easel-pictures. 

AUSTRIA.  Vienna, ImperialGallery:  St. Sebastian  —  DENMARK.  Copenhagen, 
.Museum:  Christ  upheld  by  Angels  — ENGLAND.  Hampton  Court,  Royal 
Gallery:  Triumph  of  Ca;ar  (nine  sections)  (see  plate  v)  —  London,  National  Gal- 
lery: Madonna  with  St.  John  and  Mary  Magdalene  (Plate  l);  Agony  in  the  Garden; 
Samson  and  Delilah;  Triumj^h  of  Scipio  —  London,  Owned  by  Lady  Ashburton  :  Ado- 
ration of  the  Magi  — London,  Owned  by  Dr.  Ludwig  Mond:  Holy  Family  (Plateiii)  — 
FRANCE.  AiGUEPERSE,  Puy-de-D6me,  Church  of  Notre  Dame:  St.  Sebastian  — 
Paris,  LouvRE:  Crucifixion  (Plate  iv);  Madonna  of  Victory  (Plate  vi);  Parnassus  (Plate 
x);  Triumph  of  Wisdom;  Judgment  of  Solomon  —  Paris,  Owned  by  Madame  Andre- 
Jacquemart:  Madonna  and  Saints  —  Tours,  Museum:  Agony  in  the  Garden;  Resurrec- 
tion—GERMANY.  Berlin  Gallery:  Portrait  of  Cardinal  Scanimpi  (Plate  ix);  Pres- 
entation of  Christ  —  Berlin,  Owned  by  Herr  Simon:  Madonna  and  Child  —  Dresden, 
Royal  Gallery:  Holy  Family  —  IRELAND.  Dublin  Gallery:  Judith  —  ITALY. 
Bergamo,  Carrara  Gallery:  Madonna  and  Child  —  Florence,  Uffizi  Gallery: 
Altar-piece  in  three  parts;  Madonna  of  the  Quarries  —  Mantua,  Castello,  Camera  de<;li 
Sposi:  [wall  frescos]  Lodovico  Gonzaga  and  his  Family;  Meeting  of  Lodovico  Gonzaga 
and  Cardinal  Francesco  (Plate  li)  ;  Winged  Children  with  Tablet;  [ceiling  frescos]  Figures 
leaning  over  Balustrade  with  playing  Children;  Medallions;  Mythological  Scenes  —  Milan, 
Brera  Gallery:  Altar-piece  of  St.  Luke  with  Saints  and  Pieta;  The  Dead  Christ;  Ma- 
donna and  Child  with  Cherubs  (Plate  viii)  —  Milan,  Poldi-Pezzoli  Collection:  Ma- 
donna and  Child  —  Milan,  Owned  by  Prince  Trivulzio:  Altar  piece  of  Madonna  and 
Saints —  Naples,  Museum:  St.  Euphemia;  Portrait  of  the  Prothonotary  Lodovico  Gonzaga 

—  Padua,  Church  of  Sant'  Antonio:  [fresco  over  portal]  St.  Anthony  and  St.  Bernard 

—  Padua,  Church  of  the  Eremitani,  Chapel  of  St.  James  and  St.  Christopher: 
[frescos]  St.  James  Bajitizing;  St.  James  before  Herod  Agrippa  (Plate  vii);  St.  James  led 
to  Execution;  Martyrdom  of  St.  James;  Martyrdom  of  St.  Christopher;  Rtmoval  of  the 
Body  —  Venice,  Academy:  St.  George — Venice,  Owned  by  Baron  Franchetti:  St. 
Sebastian — Venice,  Querini-Stampalia  Collection:  Presentation  of  Christ — Verona, 
Church  of  San  Zeno:  Madonna  Enthroned  with  Saints  —  SPAIN.  Prado  Gallery: 
Death  of  the  Virgin  —  UNITED  S  FATES.  Boston,  Collection  of  Mrs.  John  L. 
Gardner:   Madonna  and  Child  with  Saints. 


[1.17  1 


42  MASTERSINART 


A     LIST     OF     THE     PRINCIPAL     BOOKS    AND     MA(;AZ1NE     ARTICLES 
DEALING     WITH    MANTEGNA 

THE  most  exliaustive  work  on  Mantegna  that  has  yet  appeared  is  Paul  Kristeller'  s  'Andrea 
Mantegna,'  translated  into  English  by  S.  A.  Strong  (London,  1901),  A  brief  and  ex- 
cellent study  of  the  artist  is  by  Maud  Cruttwell  (London,  1901).  Among  other  monographs 
may  be  mentioned  those  by  Julia  Cartwright  (London,  1881),  Paul  Mantz  (Gazette  des 
Beaux-Arts,    1886),   Henry  Thode  (Leipsic,    1897),  and   Charles  Yriarte  (Paris,   1901). 

ARCO,  C.  d\  Delle  arti  e  degli  artefici  di  Mantova,  Mantua,  1857-59 — Arco,  C. 
XA.  d\  Storia  di  Mantova.  Mantua,  187a  —  Bartsch,  A.  v.  Le  Peintre-Graveur.  Vi- 
enna, 1803-21 — Blashfield,  E.  H.  and  E.  W.  Italian  Cities.  New  York,  1901  — 
Brandolese,  p.  Testimonianze  intorno  alia  Patavinita  di  Mantegna.  Padua,  1805  — 
Campori,  G.  Lettere  inedite.  Modena,  1866  —  Cartwright,  J.  Mantegna  and  Fran- 
cia.  London,  1881 — CoDDE,  P.  Memorie  biografiche  dei  pittori  Mantovani.  Mantua, 
1837  —  Crowe,  J.  A.,  and  Cavalcaselle,  G.  B.  History  of  Painting  in  North  Italy 
London,  1871 — Delaborde,  H.  La  gravure  en  Italic.  Paris  [1883] — Duplessis,  G. 
CEuvre  de  A.  Mantegna  reproduit  et  public  par  Amand-Durand.  Paris,  1878  —  Gave, 
J.  Carteggio  incdito.  Florence,  1839-40  —  Goethe,  J.  W.  von.  Triumphzug  von  Man- 
tegna (in  Schriften  zur  Kunst).  Weimar,  1898  —  Kristeller,  P.  Andrea  Mantegna: 
Trans,  by  S.  A.  Strong.  London,  1901 — Kugler,  F.  T.  The  Italian  Schools  of  Paint- 
ing: Revised  by  A.  H.  Layard.  London,  1900  —  Law,  E.  The  Royal  Gallery  of  Hamp- 
ton Court.  London,  1898  —  Morelli,  G.  Italian  Painters:  Trans,  by  C.  J.  Ffoulkes. 
London,  1892-93  —  Muntz,  E.  Histoire  de  Tart  pendant  la  Renaissance.  Paris,  1891- 
95 — Ridolfi,  C.  Le  maraviglie  dell'  arte.  Venice,  1648  —  Scardeone,  B.  De  antiqui- 
tate  Urbis  Patavii.  Basel,  1560  —  Sf.lvatico,P.E.  Squarcionestudii  storico-critici.  Padua, 
1839  —  Selvatico,  P.  E.  Sul  merito  artistico  del  Mantegna.  Padua,  i  844  —  Svmonds,  J. 
A.  Renaissance  in  Italy.  London,  1897 — Thodf,,  H.  Mantegna.  Leipsic,  1897 — Vasari, 
G.  Lives  of  tlie  Painters.  New  York,  1897 — Waagen,  G.  F.  Uber  Leben,  Wirken 
und  Werke  der  Maler  Andrea  Mantegna,  etc.  (in  Historisches  Taschenbuch).  Leipsic, 
1850  —  Woltmann,  a.  Mantegna  (in  Dohme's  Kunst  und  Kiinstler,  etc.).  Leipsic, 
1878  —  Yriarte,  C.    Mantegna.    Paris,  1901. 


magazine  articles 

ARCHIVIO  storico  dell'  arte,  1888:  C.  de  Fabriczy;  II  busto  in  rilievo  di  Man- 
-tegna attribuito  alio  Sperandio.  18S8:  S.  Davorij  Lo  stemma  di  Mantegna.  1889: 
E.  Mimtz;  Andrea  Mantegna  e  Piero  della  Francesco.  1889:  E.  Miintz;  Nuovi  docu- 
ment!. L'Art,  1886:  A.  Milanij  Un  nouveau  tableau  de  Mantegna  au  Musee  Brera  — 
Courrier  de  l'art,  1888:  Fabriczy,  C.  de;  Notes  sur  le  buste  de  Mantegna,  etc. — 
Gazette  des  Beaux-arts,  1866:  A.  Baschet;  Recherches  dans  les  archives  de  Mantoue. 
1886:  P.  Mantz;  Andrea  Mantegna.  1894:  C.  Yriarte;  Les  Gonzague  dans  les  fresques 
du  Mantegna.  1895:  C.  Yriarte;  Isabelle  d'Este  et  les  artistes  de  son  temps  —  Giornale 
d'erudizione  ARTisTiCA,  1872:  W.  Braghirolli;  Alcuni  document!  relative  ad  Mantegna 
—  Jahrbuch  der  Koniglich  preussischen  KuNSiSAMMLUNGEN,  1901:  R.  Forster; 
Studien  zu  Mantegna  und  den  Bildern  in  Studierzimmer  der  Isabella  Gonzaga  —  Qt'ARTERLY 
Review,  1902:  Anonymous;  Andrea  Mantegna  —  Zeitschrift  fur  bildende  Kunst, 
1875:  C.  Brun;  Andrea  Mantegna  im  Museum  zu  Tours.  1876:  C.  Brun;  Neue  Doku- 
mente  iiber  Mantegna.  1881 :  C.  Brun;  Ein  Bild  Mantegna's  und  der  crste  Entvvurf  dazu. 
1882:  C.  Brun;  Andrea  Mantegna  luui  D.  Hopfer.  1886:  G.  Frizzoni;  Ein  merkwiirdi- 
ger  Fall  von  malerischer  Ausgrabimg. 

[168] 


MASTERS    IN     ART 


XIV     LESSONS 

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ILLUSTRATIONS 
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•♦COLONIAL   FURNITURE,"  FOR  IT  ILLUSTRATES  THE  VERY 

aXAMPLES    FROM  WHICH  OUR  COLONIAL  DESIGNERS  COPIED 

fLnglish  Household  Furniture 

Georgian  Period   ^    100  Plates 


F""^OR  hundreds  of  years  English  private  col- 
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